Pages

Friday, 11 December 2015

The Experience - The Area Boys

A week
today, I was planning on how to attend what is arguably the largest
gathering of people on a spot for a Christian musical concert on earth tagged “The
eXperience”. At the inception of this blog last year, I remember how eager I
was to tell the story from the same event, as I was part of it for the first time
last year. I am sure I didn’t capture the story well, but I told the story
anyway [Here] & [Here].

The
eXperience is not so strange to some of you. I am sure one or two of you were
at the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) venue of the event on that blessed night, 4th
December 2015. There are some who followed it up on Cable, social media and other sites that
streamed the event live.

The
organisation of the event wowed me as much as it did at the last edition and other previous editions - ofcourse there has been a tremendous improvement of the year, as this year's eXperience is the 10th edition; the
sound system was out of this world, the stage, the lighting, the seating
arrangement, the security, the provision of toilet facilities, Emergency health
care services, vendors selling food and other controlled items etc. I give thumbs
up to the organisers, they must have put in a lot of effort to achieve the success they did. There are lots of lessons to learn from the organising of a big event like
this, anyways you want to look at it. I'll just pick one to talk about.

The
event is usually scheduled to start at 7pm and close by 5am. I arrived TBS at about
8:30pm (already late). I meet a very-very long queue of people who were yet to
enter. The queue was so long so much so that I didn’t enter the arena until
about 10:30pm. The security men were doing a great job ensuring order and ensuring
people entered well searched and disarmed if they found anything that looked to
them like weapon.

While
waiting for my turn to get into the arena, I noticed that the set of security
men keeping order on the outside streets of the arena were those who you may
want to tag as “Area Boy’s” in the part of the Island. But really, you could
hardly tell. They were dressed in a customised t-shirt for the event, with “security” inscribed on it too. The guys
were looking so good and acted organised that you may confuse them to be a
special team of ushers from, say… another parish or branch of the organising
church – House of the Rock. I was impressed.

If only
our government can positively engage the people the society have tagged as social miscreants
and _______ (I forgot the word), they would use their energy in a more constructive way for the good of
all. Sometimes I think all these people need is someone to give them the option
or better ways to dissipate their energy and still survive. They must not be nuisance
to themselves and the society to be fulfilled, because at the end, you will come to realise that even their present lifestyle (as agbero's and touts or what have you), is in a quest of finding some form of fulfilment, especially when it is the only lifestyle they
know of.

What do
you think? Kindly drop your comments.

If you attend the eXperience and you come out the same then you need to check yourself...

Nwamaka, I didn't just have an experience, I had The eXperience! *SmileS*

I agree with you; God is indeed interested in us all, excluding none.

Finding God and "remaining in him" is the summit of any form of fulfillment we can ever conceive. God works through us and as we continue to avail ourselves to be used by him as light for others to see the way and find him too, may he be God, continuing to grant us the fulfillment we need - having in mind the class of people I tried talking about in my write-up.

Greetings to you brother Brother Ugo! It is always a powerful thing when believers come together in mass to offer due praise unto the Father. That goes without saying. As for the plight of the area boys, this reaches back to your blog post regarding the N5,000 a month payment to unemployed youth.

The government must begin immediately to implement a practical plan offering employment to these same youth. Jobs which will serve to improve society in some way or other while allowing these young people to understand that they do indeed have the ability to make a valuable contribution to the nations development.

God bless you Mr. B.A. Adela.There is this thing they say about praise - when praise goes up, blessings come down. That night, I felt the heavens open and blessings come down... and when the people lifted NIGERIA up to God, I knew it was just a matter of time. God will work through men and Nigeria will rise again; in our time.

You are so right on your(our) position of the government creating jobs and making the youth see the value in adding their quota to Nigeria's development... That's the way to go!

I have never attended the experience even though I enjoy vigils alot. I don't even know how it feels, being in the same arena with thousands of people. I guess my fear is the crowd cos I'm claustrophobic, and then again, the agberos who could try pickpocketing or maybe stealing phones and the rest. In all, I'm sure it's an amazing experience (I watched it live on TV) and yes, you can never leave it feeling the same way, ever!

The only ways we conquer fears Ada, is by facing them... I am sure you have conquered a lot already in life, you can also deal with the ones you mentioned here, I am sure you know... so what are you waiting for?

Try experience the 11th edition live and have The eXperience like never before. You can set it in your e-reminder and even tag along with me cause I definitely wont miss it, inshala.

I've been wanting to attend this event for a long while now but no way. The crowd alone scares me but I've heard good stories about the experience. By God's grace I'll attend next year's edition. The area boys are one of the major reasons I don't even think about attending the event and I feel engaging them positively goes a long way. You sure had a lot of fun.

I miss being at the experience physically but I was there in spirit. I felt the fire throughout the live streaming. It was an awesome experience. As per the area boys, that's how they use them every year. My father's house is not far from TBS (not Ajah )so I see them nd they are always eager to serve. Sometimes it's not good to underestimate them, they can be useful. All what they need is just an experience with God and their lives will never remain the same.

I Love your submissions on the area boys. These kinds of observations is what makes leaders standout... instead of passing unnecessary judgement on the people the govern, they find means of engaging them meaningfully for the good of all.Great to know that you followed The eEperience live as the were streaming.God bless you.

“When will you marry? This year, Next year…” This is a game I once played as a kid. Did you play it too while skipping rope with friends? A...

FOLLOW MY BLOG VIA EMAIL

DISCLAIMER: The Posts on this blog are mine, if otherwise; I will clearly give credence to its rightful owner. The pictures used on the posts are from Google Image except the ones with the EUp logo. If you are not comfortable with anything here, kindly let me know and I will regularise. Cheers!